2024 WIABE speakers 

Jeanette Arellano is an Interdisciplinary Latinx visual artist/cultural organizer and Educator based in Milwaukee, WI. Arellano graduated with a bachelors in Fine Arts at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design And Post Baccalaureate in University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. Arellano's advocates on issues in cultural social liberation and immigration through her works. Through her artwork Arellano has continued to collaborate with artist activist groups such as Voces De Los Artistas, Artbuild Workers, Ayuda Mutua, an all volunteer collective that was formed to address food justice for residents on the city’s South Side, for all families without a need for documentation status a Voces de la Frontera Citizenship Coordinator/ Teacher and co founder of Raices Revolucionarias. Jeanette is a Milwaukee Public School art educator at Hayes Bilingual, serving around 650 Bilingual youth, dedicated to transforming young leaders through their creative expressions. Her experience has led her work in organizing creative change to be recognized at the national level through her work with the National Educators Association 2023 Cesar Chavez Accion y Compromiso Award. As well as receiving the Milwaukee 2019 Catalyst Award from National Americorp program, Public Allies.

Dr. Victor Amaya leads DYCU’s strategy and operations with a goal of helping the organization drive impact to improve conditions in the community. He is a veteran educator, instructional coach, and school leader, with a focus on success measures and impact. Before joining Data You Can Use, he led the Impact Department and served as the Interim Executive Director at City Year Milwaukee, the local affiliate of a national education non-profit.

Dr. Amaya was born in Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico, and immigrated to Milwaukee when he was twelve. He is a MPS graduate of Riverside University High School and earned his BA in Sociology and Spanish from the University of Wisconsin-Parkside. He earned a MS in Administrative Leadership, a Director of Curriculum and Instruction license, and a District Superintendent’s license and a Doctorate in Leadership in the Advancement of Learning from Cardinal Stritch University.

Victor is a dynamic leader whose mission is to create opportunities, invest in people, and break down barriers to just policies and practices, especially for those most impacted by inequities. He is a proud resident of the South Side of Milwaukee where he lives with his 12-year-old son (who is also named Victor). In his free time, he enjoys reading, exercising, traveling, and enjoying all that Milwaukee has to offer.

David J. O'Connor (pictured right) is originally from and is a member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa ( Anishinaabe or Ojibwe) in northern Wisconsin. In January 2012, he became the American Indian Studies Consultant at the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI). In David's role at DPI, he supports school districts' efforts to provide instruction on the histories, cultures and tribal sovereignty of Wisconsin's American Indian nations and tribal communities, often referenced as Wisconsin Act 31, and the education of Native American students.

David provides training opportunities and presents at conferences and workshops throughout the state of Wisconsin on American Indian education and studies. He also provides general consultation on issues related to the education of American Indian students. David serves as liaison to American Indian nations and tribal communities of Wisconsin; tribal education departments, Wisconsin Indian Education Association (WIEA), Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council (GLITC) and the Special Committee on State-Tribal Relations.

David received both his Master of Science (M.S.) degree in Educational Leadership Policy and Analysis (ELPA) and Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree in History with certificates in American Indian Studies and Chican@ and Latin@ Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is also a graduate of the School District of Ashland where he did his K-12 education and a graduate of the Bad River Tribal Head Start where he started his education and his early learning.

Dr. Báez has been a keynote speaker in many conferences in the US and abroad, and in professional development events for educators and teachers, community groups and parents. He promotes bilingualism, dual language, multicultural education, diversity, anti-racism, ethnic studies, peace and climate education; trauma-based and social emotional learning, and adult learning. He has also been involved in issues of assessment and testing of language minorities, and in the detailed implementation of Grow-Your-Own Bilingual teachers. For the past 40+ years, Dr. Báez has been a resource to community groups and plaintiffs in bilingual and desegregation litigation and civil rights challenges. He has engaged communities in framing appropriate solutions.to these issues and has vigorously sought equity and civil rights for Latinos and other racial/ethnic groups locally and nationally, especially in areas of educational transformation, immigration, health, police-community relations, housing, and racial diversity. He is an ardent proponent of the idea that we must go beyond what was mandated by law and promote the idea that what is good for people of color is good for all in America. Lately, he has traveled in the US and Latin American countries to document their pedagogy, educational and social transformation.

Dr. Báez has taught and worked in the public schools, in two-year colleges and at a major research university (UW-Milwaukee); has been the Principal/Administrator of two at-risk high schools; has directed community-based organizations and has been involvedthrough nonprofits in social change for people of color. He was Executive Director of Centro Hispano Milwaukee. He is a former Provost and Chief Academic Officer of the Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC) in Wisconsin, one of the largest urban technical colleges in the U.S. There, he also served as Assistant to the President, Director of Research, Planning and Development, Associate Dean of Pre-College and Adult Education Programs, Dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and created numerous bilingual programs. He was also Vice-President/Dean of Faculty of the bilingual Hostos Community College in the Bronx—City University of New York (CUNY).

Dr. Mariana Castro is the Director of the Multilingual Learning Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is also a lead curriculum designer and instructor for the Discussion Project.

Mariana brings over three decades of experience in education to her research and development work. She spent about half of that time in schools, where she started her career working with students with significant disabilities and with bilingual and multilingual students and their families. She taught science, ESL and bilingual education before becoming a teacher leader for the bilingual programs in her district. After working in schools, Mariana lead professional learning, standards development, and Research & Evaluation for the WIDA consortium for about 16 years. She has also over a decade of experience as a teacher educator in Wisconsin. Currently, she is the Qualitative Research Director of the Multilingual Research Center, a center focused on advancing outcomes for multilingual learners through socially just research. She has authored multiple books on formative assessment, language education, and equity in dual language education.

Her current research focuses on language and core teaching practices that help multilingual students be successful in schools. In her research, Mariana integrates her background as an educator, her passion for working with bilingual and multilingual children, youth and their teachers, and her commitment for social justice.

Samuel Aguirre is the Director of WIDA-Español.  Sam manages the research, development, and delivery of WIDA resources focused on Spanish language instruction in the United States and abroad.  His work oversees major areas, including those of standards for Spanish language development and for Spanish language arts, professional learning opportunities for educators working with Spanish and Spanish-English bilingual education programs, and Spanish language assessment.  His life experiences as an emergent bilingual in the U.S., work as an educator in multilingual classrooms, advocate working with culturally and linguistically diverse communities, and director of multilingual services at a state education agency provide a strong foundation for his role at WIDA.

Tim Boals is the Founder and Director of WIDA. He holds a Ph.D. in curriculum from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with an emphasis in the education of multilingual learners. His background includes language education, educational policy, and Spanish language and literature. At WIDA, Tim oversees the vision and strategic planning, research and development, language assessments, professional learning, and consortium outreach efforts.  

Tim presents at conferences in the USA and internationally on increasing access and meaningful engagement for learning for multilingual learners. These past few years he has gotten used to presenting virtually but always enjoys seeing people in person when possible. WIDA efforts he is particularly excited about include WIDA Español, indigenous language proficiency assessment development, WIDA accessibility efforts, and the new 2020 edition of WIDA standards and classroom resources linked to those standards.